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Patent Criticalities

The things that quietly decide whether an invention can be protected - explained before they cost you anything.

Showing 11 of 56.

Critical

Nobody wrote down who owns it

An invention belongs to its inventors unless something in writing moves it. Filing in the company's name does not by itself transfer anything. Ownership defects are …

Before filingIntermediate
Critical

Nobody asked the Patent Office to look at it

An Indian patent application is not examined unless someone files a request and pays for it. If the request is not filed in time, the application is treated as withd…

During examinationIntermediate
High

The invention is new - and still not patentable

Indian law has a filter that operates completely independently of novelty and inventive step. Section 3 lists things that are not inventions at all - and something c…

During examinationIntermediate
Medium

Searching once, at the wrong moment

Most organisations search once, just before filing, and treat the result as a verdict. Searching is more useful when it is treated as a repeated activity with a diff…

Before filingIntermediate
High

The wrong people are named as inventors

Inventorship is not authorship, seniority or reward. It is a factual question about who devised the invention **as claimed** - and because claims change during prose…

Before filingIntermediate
High

The provisional that covered nothing

A provisional specification buys a date for the subject matter it actually describes. A two-page document that states the idea without explaining how it works buys a…

Before filingIntermediate
High

The application is in the wrong name

The applicant is who will own the patent. Getting it wrong affects fee category, chain of title, who can sue, and what an investor sees in diligence - and correcting…

Before filingIntermediate
Medium

Filing before anyone asked whether it was worth it

Patentability and value are different questions, and organisations that only ask the first one accumulate portfolios that cost money every year and defend nothing.

Before filingIntermediate
Medium

The danger of filing too early

Filing early is usually right. Filing before there is anything to describe is not. A premature application starts clocks - twelve months to a complete specification,…

Before filingIntermediate
Critical

The twelve months that decide your international position

Twelve months from your first filing, you must either file in each country you care about, or file a PCT application that preserves the option. There is no third cho…

Before filingIntermediate
High

The invention changed after you filed

A patent application protects what it described on the day it was filed. Engineering does not stop on that day - and the version you eventually sell is often meaning…

During draftingIntermediate

LowWorth knowing
MediumCould create complications
HighCan materially affect protection
CriticalAct before proceeding

This is the Ragulika IP Educational Criticality - our own editorial prioritisation device, to help you decide what to read first. It is not a legal score, it is not calculated from your facts, and it says nothing about the strength of any particular application.

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Every explanation here links to the ones next to it. Follow the thread rather than the menu.

Educational guidance, not legal advice. This material is published by Ragulika IP for general education and information. It is not legal advice, it does not create a professional-client relationship, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own facts. Patentability, infringement, prosecution strategy and every other IP outcome turn on the specific facts and on the law and Patent Office practice as they stand at the time you act. Please take professional advice before making a decision, and read the underlying provision or judgment before relying on any point stated here.